BAE Systems to keep upstate facility

After being flooded with 16 million gallons of water in September, BAE Systems was ready to shut the doors on its Johnson City, N.Y. plant and potentially leave the New York region altogether.

Instead, the global defense, security and aerospace company with an operations facility in Greenlawn, will be staying in New York’s Southern Tier region, albeit not in the same space.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state put together an incentive package of $40 million in job and investment-related tax credits over a five-year period that BAE Systems can take advantage of in order to retain the jobs of 1,350 employees. That package is still pending legislative approval.

Like many other companies in the Southern Tier area, BAE Systems was hit particularly hard by the remnants of Hurricane Irene in early September. The $40 million in tax credits will be available for all companies significantly affected by natural disasters in the state.

BAE Systems, headquartered in Virginia, announced in October it would not be returning to the Johnson City facility, located just outside of Binghamton, and was looking within a 35-mile radius for a new facility. That could have meant BAE would relocate to areas of northern Pennsylvania, including communities around Scranton.